Airlines, disabled passengers weigh proposed access rules

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Airlines, disabled passengers weigh proposed access rules

Potential changes by a federal agency could affect how service dogs

are transported and safety data presented.

http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-healthy8oct08,1,607109.column

I the last four years, Osborn, a 50-year-old Laguna Beach

marketing consultant, has flown to 14 countries for business and

pleasure. He is always accompanied by Hastings, his 75-pound yellow

Labrador. Hastings has been the perfect traveler, Osborn says,

spending much of every flight dozing under his master's seat.

Osborn hopes things can stay that way, but like other fliers who rely

on guide dogs, he is wary of some proposed changes to the Air r

Access Act of 1986.

The act prohibits discrimination against passengers who have a

disability. The U.S. Department of Transportation, charged with

implementing it, is re-evaluating some of its regulations. The goal,

agency spokesman Bill Mosley said, is to update the act and clarify

it, because amendments and new interpretations had made it a

patchwork. The department issued its proposed new rules in late 2004

and then accepted comments and suggestions; a final set of

regulations will be published as soon as possible, Mosley said.One

suggested change proposes that owners of large guide dogs whose

animals couldn't fit under the seat be offered several options —

moving to another available seat that could accommodate the passenger

and dog, buying a second seat, taking another flight or putting the

dog in cargo hold. Mosley emphasizes that buying another seat is

simply an option. " Airlines cannot require you to pay, " he said.

Riddle, also from the agency, gave more details.

" The airline cannot force a passenger to transport a service animal

in the cargo hold. However, if the service animal will not fit under

the seat or a collection of seats in the cabin [and the passenger

hasn't bought a separate seat], the animal must be removed from the

airline cabin. FAA rules require that items of mass be stowed safely.

This includes service animals. "

Buying another seat, said Osborn and others who use guide dogs, could

create a financial burden. And separating a guide dog and its master

by putting the animal in the hold would be traumatic for both. " He is

my eyes, " said Osborn, who lost his vision in 1994 and got 6-year-old

Hastings four years ago. They are never apart, he noted, and he fears

such a trip would put Hastings " in shock " and render him unable to

work.

Some of the other proposed changes are also triggering debate from

the traveling public. The airline industry is protesting the

increased costs of implementing the changes.

The department is evaluating the input from the industry and the

public. (To read comments, go to dms.dot.gov, click on " Simple

Search " and enter Docket No. 19482. To read about proposed new rules

on accessibility for wheelchair air passengers, go to

latimes.com/healthytraveler.)

Organizations such as the Guide Dogs for the Blind and the National

Assn. of the Deaf are among those that have submitted comments and

protests.

" Cargo is not a safe place for dogs, " said Hingson, a

spokesman for the San , Calif.-based Guide Dogs for the Blind.

He has been with his guide dog, Roselle, an 8 1/2 -year-old Lab, for

seven years.

" What we are really saying is a guide dog is an extension of a blind

person, and you should not limit the right to travel simply because I

use a guide dog, " said Hingson, whose organization opposes the

proposed provisions about the cargo hold and buying an extra seat.

" The allergy issue keeps coming up, " he said. But a guide dog and a

traveler who suffers from allergies can be seated far enough apart so

it's not an issue, he added.

On a large airplane, that is probably true, said Dr. Marc Riedl, an

allergist and assistant professor of allergy and immunology at the

UCLA Geffen School of Medicine. " There may be exceptions to

that, especially if the air circulating system is poor or if the

patient is extremely sensitive to the allergen. "

But it may pose a bigger problem on smaller planes, he said.

About 10,000 blind adults in the U.S. use guide dogs, Hingson said,

and numerous others use service or assistance dogs.The proposed new

rules also seek to increase accommodations for hearing-impaired

passengers by requiring U.S. and foreign carriers to caption all

safety and informational videos on aircraft. On new planes, it would

require captions on entertainment videos, DVDs and other audiovisual

displays.

rs must be sure that those with a visual or hearing impairment

have access to the same safety and other information as everyone

else, the rule says.

The National Assn. of the Deaf, among other organizations, has

submitted comments backing the new rules that require more

accessibility.

But the Air Transport Assn., the trade organization of the principal

U.S. airlines, does not support the proposed new rules. In comments

filed with the Department of Transportation, the organization

contends that the agency " has conflated civil rights with customer

service matters that it should leave to the competitive marketplace. "

The association reasons that many of the new rules would burden air

carriers, many of which are already struggling with financially

problems.

In the comments to the department, the airline industry organization

said the agency had underestimated the costs of adding the suggested

accessibility improvements.